This invention relates to probes for testing integrated circuit elements.
In a U.S. patent application entitled "Analyzing Electrical Circuit Boards" (Ser. No. 879,881 filed Feb. 21, 1978) recently filed by Richard P. Davis (and hereby incorporated by reference) there is disclosed the desirability of being able to test a mounted integrated circuit element with a probe having two or more tips arranged to simultaneously contact the IC lead, to measure voltage drops across lead segments and to inject test signals into the lead. In another U.S. patent application entitled "Analyzing Electric Circuit Boards" (Ser. No. 880,589, filed Feb. 23, 1978), recently filed by Joseph Wrinn and Mark Hoffman (also hereby incorporated by reference) there is disclosed the desirability, in such a system, of using a probe having three tips arranged to contact the straight portion of the IC lead at three equally spaced points along a straight line, to define adjacent lead segments of precisely equal length, so that voltage drop measurements across the segments can be used in ratio to evaluate IC resistance without having to know lead resistance.